Late Bobby Wood goal saves USMNT in draw with Honduras

With just minutes remaining in Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier, the U.S. Men’s National Team saw their World Cup hopes slipping away. Then, Bobby Wood struck.

Wood joined the match as a second half substitute and fired an 85th minute goal, sealing a 1-1 draw with Honduras on Tuesday in San Pedro Sula. With the draw, the USMNT remains ahead of Honduras in the Hexagonal table with just two matches remaining.

The lone USMNT finish was a scrappy one and it came via a set piece. After Kellyn Acosta’s free kick smashed the bar, the ball bounced to Wood after a bit of headed pinball. Wood took a touch before rocketing a shot in from close range, stealing a point from a match where that opportunity looked bleak throughout.

Honduras’ goal came 27 minutes in through Romell Quioto, who was a handful throughout Saturday’s match. On a ball in towards the box, Omar Gonzalez whiffed on his slide, allowing Quioto in on goal. The shot curled past Brad Guzan, giving Honduras the lead midway through the opening 45.

The first half was largely an ugly affair with both teams relying on the long ball for a majority of the first 45. That approach didn’t work so well for the USMNT as Bruce Arena’s side created very little throughout the opening half.

Chances generally came through Christian Pulisic, although they were few and far between. The USMNT winger was one of the few players able to keep the ball on the ground and create, helping create the few early looks. His best came later in the first half as he was stuffed by Honduras goalkeeper Luis Lopez.

Meanwhile, the Houston Dynamo duo of Quioto and Elis was dominant, besting Graham Zusi and DaMarcus Beasley throughout due to their pace.

That fact brought changes in the second half as the U.S. switched to three in central defense following the introductions of Geoff Cameron and Paul Arriola. Wood eventually joined the fray as the USMNT put all cards on the table and it proved just enough to steal a point.

The USMNT still has to take care of business in the final two qualifiers, though. That begins with a home match against Panama in Orlando before the USMNT visits Trinidad & Tobago for the Hexagonal finale.

Comments

44 comments

Gary Page

I have trouble thinking of anyone who had a good game. From the coaching on down, a pitiful performance. This group should be ashamed of their effort, or lack thereof, over the last 2 games. Not sure we deserve to be in the WC.

Luckiest tie I can recall. I can only remember about four good plays the whole game and they were all on the goal – set piece by Acosta, save by Besler, flick on by Morris, goal by Wood. Team largely looked like amatuers tripping over the ball, losing every single 50/50 ball, looking lost, playing with no intensity. Something bad is broke …

Hard to take much of much from this one. Costa Rica was a train wreck of tactics; this was always going to be a Very Ugly Game. Horrid field, 95 degrees, CONCACAF venue in a Banana Republic officiated by CONCACAF officials…sorry, it wasn’t going to be anything resembling actual soccer and it of course wasn’t.

Got a point. Survived. Not a glorious result but good ’nuff. Live and fight on the last two games.

Quozzel, you are much too kind. Yeah, it was hot, but we had a lot of players who didn’t play in the last game and they still didn’t put out much effort. It’s a goddamn WC qualifier. If you don’t leave everything on the field, you don’t belong on the team.

“Hot” is being kind. I dunno if you’ve ever been to Central America in the summer but it’s…insane. Whole different kind of hot. Saps you, drains you, and it is not something you acclimate to in any kind of short period, much less play good soccer in. You just physically can’t. It’s honestly terrible just being outdoors.

Keep in mind I lived in Charleston, SC, and that town was brutal in the summer, and that heat (and humidity) is debilitating to people who aren’t used to it. That ain’t [i]nothin'[/i] compared to what you get in Honduras, though.

Probably has much to do with the fact that this is an unaccomplished group of players. How many are playing Champions League soccer this year? Just one. Even Costa Rica has three while Mexico has seven. The current squad has heart (most of the time) but really struggle outside of competitions against B squads. Hopefully the next batch of players led by Pulisic will be better.

I agree with Mr. Page. Very lucky result. I understand it was going to be a tough ugly game but US should have been down 2 or 3 by the 85th minute and Hondorus played on the same field and didn’t spend most of the game tripping over the ball. Hopefully, US can find a way to qualify and then have about 6 months to figure out what is wrong and get it fixed.

A performance almost as disjointed and frustrating as this “upgraded” comments section. Honduras outplayed us far more than Costa Rica did. Better tactics. Better individual efforts.

I’m ashamed for feeling good about the result, but I do. It is strategically massive by comparison to the loss we deserved. But Arena gets an F-minus for his approach over these two legs. Somebody needs to tell him that the Gold Cup is over, and being a “squad rotation guru” is overrated. Not that it excuses the players, who were almost uniformly outplayed by their opposite numbers.

The US was lucky. And will be lucky to even get to the playoff spot. I think Costa Rica is terrible and Honduras even worse but the US now, and I thought I would say this, is playing so terrible; they might not even beat Panama. Panama just played a great game against Mexico in Mexico and could have easily won that game but lost 1-0. The last two games Mexico and Costa Rica will probably play their scrubs. The US has to win the next two and that’s that. Hopefully the team gets healthy by then. The US has digressed since their 6-0 over Honduras. It doesn’t matter if they played in Honduras. They need to beat this team and playing horrible at the moment..

incredible result after all of that…3 minutes stoppage time? lmao. BUT the Team rose together for a result much needed, from behind late, on the road, in that environment of home cookin’ as worthy of CONCACAF as I have seen…if coach gets so much blame then he gets these high praises for overcoming that for sure in my book. the technical stuff is what it is and always has been. playing out of the back in there, when Honduras could foul with no call leading to shots on goal is stupid tactics on the road in CONCACAF unless you are awesome at it, and the USMNT is not. I care about results or not in qualifiers or any games that count and am super flippin happy that team didn’t wilt and die and somehow endured and got a result late. Doesn’t happen unless they continued to believe, and they did. I was screaming my head off when Wood scored that goal, so flippin happy. Important goal that one to qualifying, if the USMNT qualifies and ends up actually succeeding in cleaning up the dumpster fire of a year ago to start the hex

There was about ten minutes after the first goal where they just kept attacking Zusis side and look very dangerous and unlucky not to get a second on a couple of those chances. We got lucky, a better team buries the chances we allowed and would continue to exploit the weakness on our right flank.

BA benched all European players save Pulisic because of the heat? Uses Morris at lone striker and benches Cameron for the guy who missed the tackle leading to the goal. Can’t say BA gets much right this window.

Let’s not forget BA decided Danny Williams and Timmy Chandler weren’t needed for this roster. Media head MLS apologists still haven’t asked him why an in form Bundesliga RB was left off the roster or why a EPL MF was not called. Instead he trots out 9 MLSers in Honduras because he thought it be too hot for the guys from Europe. Wood grew up in Hawaii and Cameron started his career in Houston. The funny thing is we’re being outclassed by MLSers on the other team.

This window was an embarrassment. Mistakes in the back, no passing lanes or triangles to move possession up field, no overlapping from outside backs, FWs wanting to take 3 touches in the box, way too much space in mid field for opponents to operate, long ball, just trash.

I hope BA walks away after qualifiers and we get a better tactician and organizer for the lead up to the WC.

USMNT is unwatchable…clueless, incoherent, with no leaders on the field, and with a high school PE coach…barely the number 3 team in the worst qualifying zone, concacaf…future ain’t bright; not making the WC could be a blessing in disguise…a lot of things ought to be reevaluated with this team, starting with that Muppet on the sideline who calls himself a “coach”…

I have no idea why Arena had Beasley and Zusi as backs and tried to play direct? Four or five long balls went to Nagbe? Giving Honduras ample opportunity to win the ball and attack sending fast physical players at the USMNT backs. Long balls in the air are not a positive Nagbe attribute. The other thing is Pulisic and Nagbe had no support for possession with two backs that do not get forward and offer any possession with a purpose. Even though both Nagbe and Pulisic got drilled before, during, when in possession they had minimal outlets to play a quick ball and get it back.
Arena liked to play this way with the Galaxy with dumping balls into space and channels. Expecting players to run onto balls and play crosses and chips into the box. I’m afraid the level of competition exceeds hose tactics

I think I know the answer to the in form Bundesliga RB being left off…it was shown in the heart of those on the field at the end of the game who never quit and so got the result. BA may think Chandler does not play with heart for the Nats, and if he did, I would agree with him.

Late in the match Honduras won the ball back in its own end played a ball to midfield and pushed the ball into attack, Omar and Besler tracked back trying to hold the line without allowing a well timed run. Everyone else in red was walking and when the ball was played wide making it a 4 on 2, the rest of the defense continued their slow pace. It was only with the help of the woodwork that the score wasn’t 2-0 with less than 10 minutes to play. For the last twenty minutes, we stood around as Honduras moved the ball past us while playing desperate balls into space trying to play one man against three. Fortunately off of one of those I believe it was Pulisic won us a free kick. Accosta made a great kick that nearly went in on its own and then we played pinball until Wood calmly put it in the back of the net. Other than those 10 seconds of fight most of the team had capitulated by the 85th minute. Much like Klinsmann in Costa Rica, Arena went on the road in Central America needing a result after a home loss and his team was flat, uninspired and mostly without any semblance of a strategy. Luckily, Honduras didn’t put away enough of their chances. Arena doesn’t deserve credit for being lucky, we got a result in spite of him, not because of him. I’m advocating firing him that would be insanity needing as many as six points to qualify, but let’s not praise his ineptitude during these two qualifiers either.

As always, from the player selection to line-up on crucial games, Bruce and other USA coaches find the way to loose. They all have “favoritism disease”, “blind’ and deaf ears”. A moment Bruce introduced his staff I personally have no hope for future US soccer, they may “go Russia” to be the a “given point team” nothing else to be proud of.

100% Correct… in a few days all that will be remembered is that we got a point in Honduras Nobody will remember that we STUNK. or that Arena managed to come up with yet another player combination that doesn’t work. Did we have any serious chances before Wood saved us? I don’t think so. Totally mismanaged and once again, Arena is doing exactly what he did to get fired last time. Playing favorites even though they aren’t getting the job done.

The most discouraging part is that he won’t learn anything from this. He will roll essentially the same team that failed against CR out against Panama with maybe a defensive change or two. Arena is so arrogant that he could give Klinsmann lessons on that. He won’t see the problems or make necessary changes. We need to field younger players. Give Polisic somebody to play with out there. He runs his ass off only to have nobody with him. And forget Morris while you’re at it. One trick pony and not good enough. Was he even in the game last night? We are in big trouble as long as he runs this ship and he will never take us anyplace

so…am i crazy thinking this was just a typical concacaf away game? maybe some of you are newer fans, but i feel like this is always how road qualifiers are—especially in honduras. they schedule the game earlier in the day, grow the grass long, slow the game down, make you play through the air, and that’s before you add in the “home cooking” from the refs. all that taken into account, you want to get at least a draw, and that’s what we got.
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now could the performance have been better? hells yes. arena should’ve known by now that we were going to play the long ball: so start bobby or dempsey up top, who’s good in the air; play pulisic more central, so he can run onto bobby’s knockdowns; and for heaven’s sake, don’t put zusi and beasley at the back—if anything, it’s the time to deploy 3 centerbacks.
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also, while he certainly didn’t have a great game (no one did), i didn’t think bradley was as bad as other people do—he at least seemed to stay solid right to the end, which isn’t nothing in that situation.

While away games in the HEX are never easy, the last 2 games have been nothing short of crap. Arena’s player selections coupled with general poor performances by players has left me thinking it might actually be a good thing for the growth of team if we fail to qualify for the 2018 WC. I can’t see an changes within USSF so long as we continue to qualify.

As soon as they announced Bruce as the coach I became concerned with this team. Bruce has always over valued what he calls experience…namely Old Players. We saw this with his 2006 WC Squad, and we saw it consistently with the LA Galaxy over the past 4 seasons.

There is no reason what so ever to still be calling up players like Wondo, McCarty, Rimando, Bedoya, Hedges, etc…. None of them received a single minute over 2 lack-luster games where everyone played poorly. Therefore use those roster spots to bring in some players who’ll actually challenge the starters and put pressure on them to perform.

Shift Fabian back to LB since none of the other options (Beasley, Villafana, Ream) are worth a damn as starters. Bring in Garza to compete with Villafana as a back-up.

When you’ve got a starting RB playing 90 minutes week in, week out in the German 1st division and your starting RB is out injured…you call that player in. PERIOD.

When you have a FIFA recognized tournament (Gold Cup) you select your best options. If you want to rest your XI….you call in the best options available regardless of what league their in. Its a FIFA date…clubs are required to release players…so call in Chandler, Williams, Miazga, CCV, Gooch, etc… Get them experience with the Back-ups (Acosta, Besler, Gonzalez, etc…

Arena picks the best 23 to 26 players that he thinks can help him win period. Just as JK did, and Bradley, and Bora and Sampson. You don’t get to be a national team manager without being a highly competitive person. Arena isn’t calling Chander or Williams or Feilhaber because he doesn’t think they are as good as the person in front of them. That’s it. There is no conspiracy to benefit MLS or demean a certain ethnic group or even to stick it to Klinsy. Klinsmann didn’t feel LD was more helpful in his 2014 form leading to the WC than Wondo or AJ so he left him off. Was he right, probably not, would it have made a difference probably not, we still most likely don’t beat Germany or Belgium even with a 2010 form Donovan. Why did JK bring Yedlin, Brooks, and Green to Brazil because their replacements in his mind didn’t make us better in 2014 and by bringing them they would gain valuable experience for 2018, and he was 66% right. Arena has one goal get to the WC and once there do as well as possible. He has no need to bring in Gooch, CCV, McKinnie because he cares nothing for 2022, why would he. He is looking at who puts his team in the best spot today and in his mind that’s Rimando, Bedoya, and Zusi. You certainly can question the wisdom of both JK and Arena’s decisions (they both deserve it), but to suggest ulterior motives for selecting players over others is “fake news”.

not the best usa game, but everyone is totally disregarding the nihilistic performance from honduras. they started the game in the 90 degree heat (as opposed to the other two games starting at 10 est) and didn’t cut the field, basically undercutting usa’s main advantages: our superior technical skills and ability to move the ball around. when you can’t pass, you can’t control possession. when it’s 90 degrees out, you can’t press the honduran midfield. arena sent a team out to get a point, and that’s what we did, despite abysmal sportsmanship by honduras (time wasting, diving, late tackles, etc.)

Lost in Space– I assume you are just upset like the rest of us and exaggerating (understandable)…. but the idea that it would somehow be “beneficial” for US Soccer if we failed to make the World Cup is certifiably insane. Would set US Soccer back a minimum of 10 years on a direct financial basis alone. I could go on forever about how terrible this idea is, but I think you probably know…

Here are a couple of grades I would give from today’s tie with Honduras: F to coach BA for playing the two outside defenders (too old & slow) and for too long, using Dempsey (too old & slow) for full game, and playing Pulisic on the wing; A to Wood for control and resultant US goal; D to Gonzales for being out of position and then a very poor slide tackle which resulted in the H goal; C to Guzan because of his many ball turn-overs; B to Pulisic for trying to go around players but loosing the ball too many times; A to Bessler who did not make any bad defensive mistakes; B to Morris who hustled up front and nicely set-up the US goal; and B to Bradley who hustled all game long and stopped one dangerous attack by himself.

also, from about the 57th to the 73rd minute, there were 5 subs, the honduran goalie inexplicably fell to the ground and had to be “treated” before continuing on the rest of the game, the ball boys were throwing three balls on the field, honduras wouldn’t take free kicks, etc. there were about 3 minutes of actual soccer in the meat of the second half, during which, ideally, usa would be putting its stamp on the game.

arena made a tactical mistake in putting his slow, aging wing backs in a game that would be dominated by speed (bc honduras decided to make the game unplayable for a technical team), but he got a point. yes, both teams played on the same field in the same heat, but these don’t have the same effect on a less skilled team that’s used to playing in that heat. they work to level the playing field so a less skilled team has the chance to compete with a team that just beat it 6-0.

I’m amazed that there are still apologists for this performance by the US. As for Arena, I have voiced my reservations based on the performance of the Galaxy his last two years. Apart from his player selections, and given that it’s very hard to play in Honduras, in the last two games the US team has played as if they’ve never played together. If they have even practiced together, it’s not evident. When times got desperate, in the last 10 minutes or so, they started to run into channels, move the ball on the ground, make good passes and,finally create chances. Where was this team before that? Did Arena tell them to just play long balls over the top? That’s all they did and it failed miserably.The fact that they used this approach means we need to find someone else after the next two qualifiers. BTW, I urged that he use Pulisic as a CAM and play conservatively until the last 20 minutes. Then the defensive backs get caught out from the first 15 minutes until the rest of the half. If nothing else besides the tactics, this is STUPID coaching.

Heat acclimitization takes about 2 weeks and to perform well in the heat a couple recovery days after the last heat workout before the competition. Some people never seem to get there. You would think Zusi should have been OK, but he looked gassed from the start. I thought he more than Gonzo was responsible for the goal. he started even and inside the attacker but seemed to just give up to let Gonzo defend alone. I have no idea what Gonzo’s problem was, but it hurt. Beasley was beaten too often. Of the back 4, only Besler was good enough. I thought Zusi and Beasley would have the speed to deal with the Honduras attack, but they did not. Gonzo looked a bit lost.

The strategy of hitting long balls forward was always going to make the US look even worse than they are. None of Pulisic, Nagbe, or Morris are great at winning those kind of balls and Dempsey just gets fouled and looks angry. Arriola added some energy and possession. I would like to see a diamond 4 with Nagbe left, Pulisic center attack, Arriola right and Bradley cender back. It would put those guys in spots where they should be more comfortable and could connect passes. I still think Dempsey and Wood are likely the more dangerous pair up top, but Altidore does occupy defenders and that can make space for the mids coming forward.

Finally what is with all the changes in back? for Chrissakes, use the same 4 (or 3/5) for more than a game before reshuffling. No successful team reshuffles the back line as extensively as the US has over the last 3 years. Some players simply must lay claim to the various starting spots especially in back and stay healthy or the US will continue to fizzle.

The positives were few, but they were there. Acosta ran all day, reminding me of JJ, fouling to slow play and supporting Zusi all night. Besler was solid, and should have been paired with Cam, which would have been much stronger. Bradley stayed out of the defensive line and kept his position well, breaking up a lot of attacks. Morris ran hard all day and kept a few play alive when they should have been dead. Wood’s finish was great, he should have been on the field all game.

The negatives: Omar is awful and can be counted on for at least one critical mistake a game. Zusi was outclassed all night. Beasley showed his age. Dempsey did virtually nothing all game. Nagbe was useless and really annoyed me with his lazy attitude. Even the announcers asked where he was on defense a few times. CP was off his game and whined like an 18 year old, which he is, but he needs to learn from this and not loose his focus. Bruce made some real poor choices in this one and he needs to be better in October.

I never know what team will show up to play, and that is a huge problem. We have no identity, no team chemistry, and our coaches seem to favor experience over hunger as a quality for picking players. I used to be able to say that the USA was going to come out focused, play hard nosed soccer, give everything they have for 90 minutes, and leave their hearts on the field. I do not see that from this team. I miss Brian McBride and Frankie Hejduk!

This was atrocious! I was lambasted when kept posting on thus board that as bad or unpredictable Klinsmans moves were, the issues were that the USMNT faced a talent gap with players in their late 20s Altidore/Bradley/Gonzalez and the generation behind them in there early 20s were proving consistent enough to take over. All these savior types (Benny etc) have proved wanting under all coaches.

The Klinsmann debate is beating a dead horse, but given recent results, maybe we should reconsider what he did right so as to better evaluate Arena. While people complained about Klinsmann making a lot of changes and playing guys out of position, he did that in friendlies. In tournaments he was very consistent and made far fewer changes than Arena has. Secondly, one player “out of position”, F Johnson has shown clearly that for the national team, he is best at defensive back, where JK put him, and not at midfield. And, as I mentioned the other day, one thing Klinsmann emphasized seems to have gotten lost–being more nasty, by which he meant tougher. The US has played soft. They showed a bit more against Honduras than CR, but they are missing that cutting edge that meant winning the 50/50 balls. Also, what happened to playing out of the back and playing possession football? Totally abandoned for this game, which resulted in numerous turnovers, allowing Honduras to attack repeatedly, often in good positions because of poor give aways. And the US had no rhythm or continuity because of all the balls in the air, which they rarely controlled. It’s like the US went back to playing like they did 20 + years ago when they had no real skill players.

@Gary Page
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i won’t address the other klinsmann stuff, cause you’re right—it’s beating a dead horse.
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but as to “playing out of the back and playing possession football?” that would’ve been the dumbest thing to do in this game, as you could see the few times we tried. when the grass is above your ankles, the best thing to do is kick it long and send your runners after it—notice how often the ball just died when it hit the ground?
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one of the worst things about this past decade of soccer was this romantic view of “possession soccer”, like it’s the “right” way to play, no matter who your players are, who your opponent is, or what the circumstances are. there’s a reason why klinsmann disregarded all that philosophical talk when he actually had to win games.

Wow I’m glad I was forced to miss watching the game after reading the comments. Sounds ugly, but it was always going to be that way in Honduras in the middle of the day. It’s a better result than last Hex when we lost down there. I keep hearing that our fullbacks were beaten repeatedly, but who else do we have to play there? When has Chandler ever played well for the US? Certainly not in Central America.

So it will be up to the players to perform against Panama. Can’t use field conditions as an excuse then. If we can’t beat Panama at home with our backs against the wall, then I don’t think we belong at the World Cup.

For my part, I still think the pieces are there for an interesting and competitive team, particularly in the attack. But Arena has got to figure out a defensive scheme that works with the players we have.

re: playing out the back vs. long balls – this was not the game to try to work the ball around from the back. did you all not see how slowly the ball was rolling? it’s harder to hit passes with the correct weight (making a turnover more likely), and it’s easier for the honduras to close space and pressure higher up the field.
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there were some things arena could have done differently, but you guys are asking for something that never was going to happen. any smart coach would have sent his back 4 out there with instructions to just boot it down the field. this isn’t about the usa regressing 10 years as a program; this is simply the realities of qualifying for the world cup when faced with an away game in honduras.

I do not disagree about playing long balls considering the circumstances, but then the choice of players was even more confusing. Why put Beasley, Nagbe, Dempsey, and Zusi out there is you plan on hitting long balls up top and playing high press to force turnovers. Nagbe was useless on that unmowed park grass, and Beasley cannot overlap if we bypass the midfield. You have to choose a strategy, and a team that can go out and execute that plan. That is where Arena failed in both of these games.

Reality: the US has only so much better quality Honduras, period. Clearly better, but not by a such a margin the US always will dominate. The 6-0 home WCQ win was an aberration.

Throw in on the road, on that garbage pitch, in such tremendous heat index – suddenly the gap between the teams is significantly lessened. As it always has. Same as in Panama, Jamaica, T & T, etc. There is no doubt if you throw a decent European side like Croatia in to such an atmosphere, and the match will be a helluva a lot closer than most would imagine.

The nattering nabobs are forgetting these realities. The most important being the US has only so much better quality than Honduras. And while the FIFA rankings are questionable at best – according to those the US were technically underdogs in all four matches v Mexico and Costa Rica regardless of venue.

You want to lay blame at Arena for many things, go for it. But the broader issue stays the same: US quality remains similar or below to top Concacaf teams. I for one think Concacaf is underrated.